Rewardle’s Small Business Guide to Surviving the Holidays

The Holiday season has arrived. Between Halloween and New Year’s there are a variety of traditional and commercial holidays like Christmas, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, and more! Not to mention all the celebrations with family, friends, and work; it’s a recipe for a chaotic few months. Whether business goes off or quiets down during this time of year, there’s a few things you can do to make the holiday season a success for your small business.

Set Your Objectives

First things first, get clear on what you’d like to achieve this season. More foot traffic? Boost gift card sales? Higher total purchase values? Maybe things are normally slow during the holidays so your goal is to keep sales from dipping, to stay engaged with customers while you shut down for a few weeks or for things to run smoothly while you are away on holiday.

HOT TIP: Whatever the goal(s), it’s important that your objectives or projections are rooted in data and analytics from previous seasons or earlier years. Simply guessing or going off your gut can keep you from finding out important information–often crucial and counter-intuitive– that could inform successful business decisions.

Plan Ahead

Now that this year’s holiday season objectives have been outlined, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty details. As all busy business owners know, times slips away all too easily. Laying out your plans ahead of time means no piece of the puzzle falls through the cracks. Need to order special ingredients for a Gingerbread latte special? Need to promote Black Friday or Boxing Day sales? Hosting lots of corporate Christmas parties or events? Make sure you’ve got the cash flow and ordering covered, plus extra waitstaff. These are all elements to consider and plan for so that things run smoothly and successfully during these hectic end-of-year months.

HOLIDAY TIP: Whether you’ll be busy or slow during this period, you’ll need to consider budgeting, inventory, staffing, and marketing requirements for the season.

Stay Organized

The goals have been set. The plans are in motion. Now all you have to do is stay organized– much easier said than done! But staying organized will make this chaotic time of year much more enjoyable for you, your staff, and your friends and family. With holiday parties, family gatherings, impromptu shopping outings and more, you’ll work much more effectively if you schedule chunks of time to get things done rather than just trying to fit them in on the fly.

HOLIDAY TIP: Schedule marketing promotions and social media in advance for the month or week rather than posting every single day. Put some time aside to handle admin or emails rather than constantly checking your phone. This way, you can give your full focus and attention to whatever’s on the slate, whether that be invoicing, customer service, or spending time with family!

Communicate

As with any relationship, communication is key! No one will know about your awesome new products, special sales, exciting events, holiday closures or extended opening hours if you don’t tell them! If your customers don’t know about your amazing holiday plans or can’t easily find the information they need, it’s all too easy for them to move on to a competitor. But communicating with patrons is easier than ever with a whole suite of Rewardle digital marketing tools. Sending out holiday emails, app notifications, and posting to social media channels are all excellent ways to communicate with your customers about your plans for the festive season! Your business’ website is the foundation of your online presence– make sure it is updated with all the information your customers need.

HOLIDAY TIP: Communication is crucial for staff as well as customers. Staff should be trained and up to date on all changes to schedules, new expectations, exclusive product offerings, or specials for the holiday season.

Capture Data

In this day in age, data is king! Although it can make or break a business, data is often the last thing on a busy business owner’s mind. If you’re about to experience a massive holiday rush, make sure you’ve got a way to collect data on your new customers so you can continue to communicate with them and build that relationship throughout the year. If you’re about to experience a lull, all the more reason to spend the rest of the year building your database– so you can send out special offers and get in touch with your previous customers during quiet times.

HOLIDAY TIP: Rewardle systems are super handy because they allow you to build a database, by offering fun, meaningful rewards to your customers and also offer all the digital marketing tools to allow you to use that database to its full effect!

Enjoy the Holidays!

You’ve done the hard work– set the goals, made the plans, executed everything as best you could. Now don’t forget to enjoy your holidays! Whether it’s a well-earned holiday or just a day or two celebrating with friends and family, take time to enjoy some festive food, merry drink, and all-around good cheer!

Your Rewardle system is the ultimate business tool for conquering the holidays. To get your business set up or find out more information on how to use the system for your business this holiday season, please contact our Success Team at success@rewardle.com or 03 8593 4173.